December 25^th is Jesus Birthday

William G. McIntosh

Nowadays plenty of people  believe that someone invented Christmas just telling everybody that Christ was born on December 25^th when   nobody really knew. Others say the pagans in Rome had a feast on Christmas so Christians  just decided to make up the idea that Jesus was born on the same day to get their minds off of pagan customs. I think both ideas are false. 

Since most of us have no problem with celebrating wedding anniversaries and birthdays. What's the big deal in celebrating Christ's birthday?  Some will say that the day Christ was born isn't mentioned in the Bible. But where  does the Bible say that it is the only source of knowledge about Jesus?

You're going to hear another version now. When St. Peter died he was replaced by other popes. In the year 337 the 35^th replacement of St. Peter was a man  named Pope Julius I. A religious leader of the time named Cyril of Jerusalem asked Pope Julius I to check the Roman census records to discover the day Christ was born.  This happened, according to the historian John of Nikiu in the middle of the 4^th century. In Rome evidence for Dec. 25^th is found in the Philocalian Calendar, com-posed  in 354 by a scribe and antiquarian not long after Pope  St. Julius I death in 352, which contains three important entries. In the civil calendar 25 December is marked "Natalis Invicti" or birth of the unconquered sun. In the list of consuls are four entries: the birth and death days of Christ, the entry into Rome, and martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul. The significant entry is "Chr. Cæsare et Paulo sat. XIII. hoc. cons. Dns. ihs. XPC natus est VIII Kal. ian. d. ven. luna XV," i.e. during the consulship of (Augustus) Cæsar and Paulus Our Lord Jesus Christ was born on the eighth before the calends of January (25 December), a Friday, the fourteenth day of the moon.

Now some will question the authenticity of these claims but we do see that St. John Chrysostom asserts in a sermon ,delivered approximately in the year 386, dealing with Dec. 25^th date as the date of Christmas,  that he knows that the census papers of the Holy Family were still there.

Saint John Chrysostom

St. John Chrysostom  proclaimed: " But Our Lord, too, is born in the month of December . . . the eight before the calends of January [25 December]." Evidence that Christ was born on December 25^th (and that this day was not just picked since no one knew the real date)  can also be found in the recorded writings of the Christian Cyprian: "O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on that day on which that Sun was born . . . Christ should be born." Both these proponents of celebrating the Nativity on Dec. the 25^th seem quite emphatic that Christ was actually born on the date.

Now to people of faith the idea that Almighty God should allow that  something secular or even pagan to be the starting point for revealing something  sacred is no surprise. St Paul at the Areopagus in Greece makes reference to the pagan altar dedicated to an "unknown god" when he launches into his discourse to evangelize the Athenians present.

During World War II archaeo-logical excavations were carried out below St. Peter's Basilica.  The successful discovery of St. Peter's tomb enabled the world to see that when Christ proclaimed to Peter that he was rock and upon this rock he would build his Church Our Lord was not making a symbolic and empty claim. I'm told that a lead weight attached to a string and dropped from the center of the great dome at St. Peter's Basilica  (designed by Michaelangelo) would eventually intersect directly on top of the actual discovered site of the very tomb of St. Peter the Apostle and first Pope.

Concerning the true date of Christmas, modern science makes things interesting. John Mosely an astronomer of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, CA stated in a monograph in that organization’s publication the Griffith Observer, Dec., 1980 concerning the Star of Bethlehem which is believed to be Jupiter and other planets aligned in conjunction with it:

 "“On Dec. 25^th, 2 B.C., Jupiter indeed stopped against the background of stars and began its retrograde motion[ceasing to move westward]. The Magi would have seen Jupiter ‘stopped at an elevation of 68 degrees, almost directly over Bethlehem, five miles to the south, as they made their routine predawn observations of the skies.” This occurred on a Friday just as the Philocalian calendar reported concerning the day Christ was born!

Assuming that the Magi's visit to bring gifts to the King of the Jews fell most appropriately on the very birthday of the Savior (if Herod had a  party on his birthday, why not Jesus?) then maybe the investigation of Pope St. Julius I was not so far fetched nor did the  celebration of Christmas on Dec. 25^th begin with a merely shrewd and  handy decision made by some priests.  Also, too, Psalm 18 seems to jive beautifully with the Gospel account of the Star:

  “The heavens show forth the glory of God, and the firmament declares the work of his hands.”

In conclusion, settling on the date of  December 25^th for Christmas seems more like a discovery of  divine wisdom (thanks to some ancient Roman census record checking) than  a clever solution by evil priests trying to manipulate Christians. So the next time someone says that no one really knows the date of Christ's birthday they need to have your help in putting them back in touch with early Christian history.

The author made  use of data contained in the article "The Reality of the Star of Bethlehem" by Paul Fisher and from the 1913 edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia and expresses his gratitude to all those, living or deceased especially his lovely wife,  the late Maria Eugenia McIntosh, who made this work available to all.